A student at TeWinkle Middle School in Costa Mesa who posted violent threats on the Internet against a female student – a post considered so extreme that 20 of his fellow students who viewed it were suspended – faced expulsion and a hate-crime investigation by the Costa Mesa Police Department.

In La Habra, Las Flores and other school districts, fake MySpace.com pages for teachers and principals have popped up. Officials say the spoof sites highlight a growing challenge for schools: Teens with anonymous Internet access can turn insults previously scrawled in bathroom stalls into public attacks or pranks.

It’s a serious issue, says Bill Habermehl, superintendent of the Orange County Department of Education. “We’re asking the principals and our attorneys to look into this, to give district superintendents support in prosecuting and taking strong action. We’re drawing a line in the sand, and if kids step over it, they’re going to pay the price. This is not something you play around with.”

More important, Habermehl says, is what he views as the danger MySpace poses to the 515,000 children in the public schools. Students who see social networking sites as a harmless place to chat with friends post personal information and can end up connecting with sexual predators. The FBI estimates that one in five, or about 100,000 children in Orange County, have been approached. Some may not even know it.

As a result, schools are teaming up with law enforcement to educate children and their parents about risks and safety measures.

Habermehl and Arthur Cummins of the Crisis Response Network Coordinator for the Orange County Department of Education tell how schools are trying to help kids stay safe and parents stay informed.

Q. What are schools doing to teach parents and children about Internet safety?

A. The Orange County Department of Education and Orange County Sheriff’s Department discussed Internet safety on a TV show set to air soon on local access stations. The show warns about the potential dangers of Internet social-networking sites – from sexual predators to gang communications – and gives parents tips for monitoring their kids’ online activities. It’s aimed at giving parents a balanced review of social networking. In addition, the department is working to develop PTA programs and TV programs as well as protocols that can be applied at area schools.

Q. What are schools hoping parents would learn about their children’s sites?

A. “My serious concern is that parents aren’t aware enough of what their children are doing online,” Habermehl says. “They think their children are just chatting with their buddies, and they don’t know how quickly kids can be entrapped. It will take a lot of parent education.”

His best advice?

Don’t allow computers in children’s bedrooms.

Learn how to check children’s sites and monitor where they go on the Web. The computer belongs to the parents, not the children.

Learn the computer lingo. “POS,” for example, means “parent over shoulder.” “Think how you’d react if your child was on the phone and you walked in and they said, ‘Oops, my Mom just walked in,'” Habermehl said. “You’d be saying,’Hey, who are you talking to?'” Such acronyms should raise red flags.

Q. Do schools actively monitor students’ Web sites?

A. Police and school officials work as closely as they can, but they could monitor sites 24-7 and still not catch everything that might be dangerous for kids, Cummins says. Police look mostly for sexual predators, but also note discussion of illegal drug and alcohol use, gang associations and parties brewing online.

Schools take action when they get reports of students pictured in school uniforms acting in a way that reflects badly on the school. “If we get a report of someone in a school football jersey with a beer, we would act. But we don’t have the resources to go looking for those things,” Cummins says.

Q. What are some other ways kids can end up in trouble with their schools?

A. The hate-crime investigation is one example.

In February, the parents of 20 TeWinkle Middle School students in Costa Mesa were told that their children would be suspended for two days because administrators said they had clicked on or responded to graphic death threats directed at a female student posted on MySpace.

According to three of the parents, the boy who posted the threat created a group on Jan. 3 and invited friends to join by sending them a colorful psychedelic picture. If they accepted it, they were added to his group, called “I hate … (girl’s name).” The group name also included an expletive and racial reference. The student was identified only by her first name. Some parents said their children do not know the girl.

Five days later, the boy sent a second message to members of his group, asking them to click on a nondescript folder. Once they did, a post appeared with the words, “Who here in the ‘I hate (girl’s name with an expletive and racial reference)’ wants to take a shotgun and blast her in the head over a thousand times?” and asked for replies.

No one replied.

TeWinkle English teacher Elizabeth Copeland saw the post when she was browsing MySpace and alerted school administrators, according to a Costa Mesa police report. Twenty TeWinkle students were identified from the 28 pictures and icons associated with the site.

Q. Some parents objected to the suspensions, saying their children didn’t know what was behind the folder until they clicked on it. What rights do school districts have to suspend students?

A. Ronald Wenkart, general counsel for the Orange County Department of Education, said the California Education Code allows schools to suspend or expel students if their actions affect school activities or attendance. At least four instances involving MySpace and similar sites have occurred in Orange County schools in the past couple of months and that number is expected to grow, Wenkart said.

The fake MySpace pages created for teachers create a complicated discipline problem for schools, however. If the page is created outside of school and isn’t threatening, officials say their options are limited. While such pages may violate MySpace’s conditions of use, they don’t meet the criteria for suspension or expulsion.

Q. How is MySpace reacting?

A. MySpace spokeswoman Dani Dudeck announced in March that the site would assign 90 employees to bolster security on the networking site popular with teens.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.